Living in Malta, this is the blog and journal of Simon Facciol.

Here we discover new technologies and try to discover solutions to common problems.

Early Days

I have been passionate about technology, especially hardware since I was 8 (eight) years old thanks to my brother who introduced me to the IT world. Initially, I used my PC primarily for games, but hardware and software compatibility were an issue in the early years so I used to do a lot of hands-on analysis and debugging of the hardware and search over the internet (with a dial-up connection) for drivers and possible fixes.

Then I started secondary school and I chose Computer Science were I was exposed to the world of the WWW ecosystem with HTML, CSS and Javascript the primary web languages. I started to develop small fan sites and host them on free web hosting services, while I tried most of the web site building software like DreamWeaver for example.

After 5 (five) years I entered pre-University college and I chose Computer Science and Maths as my primary subjects. We used Pascal as our basic development language to start off including databases and the .Net Development Framework, and of course lots of theory and how the internal components of a computer work, how they send data to each other and what job they do. Personal computer components were evolving quite fast at the time especially the graphic cards and the CPU.

I continued another 5 (five) years at MCAST to focus more on software development and learn several terminologies and processes such as database normalisation, security and encryption, Java, Ruby and the business side of a software/web company.

Working Experience

During my studies I worked at APS Bank as a Helpdesk and Support Technician, I was not sure in what area to specialise, if it was software development or network/hardware. Then I worked with Vodafone Malta as a Software Developer using .Net to interact with Oracle databases in order to generate visual reports from the base stations spread around Malta and Gozo.

After that I continued to work with .Net at Holistic for 2 (two) years mostly doing front end development with HTML, CSS and Javascript, were I introduced the use of a CSS framework that sped up the design implementation considerably. During my years at Holistic I worked on websites such as www.fiat.com.mt and www.hyundai.com.mt . I then got a job at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Malta to be the Lead Developerof an internal project to share information between Maltese embassies around the world. Lastly I worked at Faktum Software International using .Net mostly as a report designer, but I also had the opportunity to implement some features in the invoicing software, the main product of the company.

I worked with iGame Malta as a Senior Web Developer which was then bought by Unibet (Kindred), started as a Web Application Developer then moved to a more front end position. I have learned a lot of new technologies like SSH, Apache, NGINX, SOAP and Drupal. I developed with PHP, bash scripts, Python and Ruby throughout these 4 (four) years. I recently started using AngularJs and NodeJs to experiment with improving performance and optimise load times.

The Present

I started a new adventure with Relax Gaming were I am focusing solely on frontend development with ReactJs, Flux, SCSS. The job is very interesting, and I started to Lead the Daily Fantasy Sports development team in January. Let's see what the future reserves...

My Goal

I strive to built the most enjoyable, user friendly and performant websites for all the web users. The industry is constantly evolving and the IT department is right at the core of the industry of online gaming with millions of active users worldwide. The ultimate satisfaction is to create a product that is recognisable not only by the business but also by the user satisfaction and engagement of the product.

Without competition or goals there is no motivation or excitement to improve and innovate.

I have a passion for Apple devices, there is something that attracts me to the whole ecosystem. I might be an Apple fan boy, but I used other Android devices as well and I love the competition between both systems. Without competition or goals there is no motivation or excitement to improve and innovate.

Living in Malta, this is the blog and journal of Simon Facciol. Here we analyse new technologies and try to discover solutions to common problems.